When learning how to make a collage, the easiest way to begin is to decide on the materials you want to use. "Collage" is a French word that means the act of gluing or sticking, so anything that you can glue together to form a piece of art can be called a collage.
The beauty of creating a collage is that anything goes. Since you decide how you want your collage to look, no two collages need ever be the same. If you're looking for symmetry, you might want to make two collages that are exactly the same and use them to frame both sides of a window or a bulletin board, or you can use them as the front and back cover of a photo album.
Photo Collages
The most popular form of collage, of course, is a collage that's composed of photos. The photos don't have to be in any particular order, don't have to tell a particular story and don't have to be all in color or all black and white. However, if the collage will be composed of photos, search for close-up photos that are crisp and clear.
For instance, if a teenager is creating a collage for her bedroom wall, the first order of business would probably be to round up all the great, fun photos the teen has. Find photos of the teen alone as well as with friends, pets and family members. The photos can then be overlapped, turned sideways or placed upside down, depending how your teen would like them, or placed in a manner that allows the artists to create a picture, such as a flower pattern or a sunburst.
Other Fun Collage Items
Displaying photos alone is the most typical form of collage, but you can also add other materials. A collage can be made even more fun by adding bits of ribbon, stickers, word bubbles, candy and gum wrappers and borders with stencil or rubber stamping decorations. If using candy and gum wrappers, use wrappers that are from your favorite candy and gum. For example, if your name is Clark or Joy, use Clark or Almond Joy wrappers, respectively. Maybe you want to add the labels from your favorite snack foods, such as chips, popcorn, pretzels, cereal names and soda pop.
If the collage is intended to be a portrait or outline of who you are, you might want to add words from newspapers, magazines and food labels. The word Cool, taken from a Cool Whip container, can be added to the collage to signify that you are cool or that you use that word a lot. Or, you can create words with stencils and rubber stamping techniques. Large bold letters or numbers signifying the names of friends, the date and other important events in your life would add to the collage by making it both interesting and timely.
Collage Border
Not only does a border give a collage a definite edge, but it also can be used to define the person the collage is being made for. Create this look by choosing items that say something about the person. A border for a collage that is being made for a teenager or by a teenager can be created out of strips of her last exam paper, strips of ribbon, movie ticket stubs, sashes from pageants she's won or blue ribbons she's won over the years in sporting events. Words or messages can also be used as the border.
Collages are generally mismatched bits from a person's life. Because pictures often tell a story, even when you didn't engineer the collage in that manner, you'll be surprised by what other people see or get from your collage upon seeing it for the first time.
 | Collage ideas can be as varied as the materials you use. Making a collage fun doesn't mean there needs to be humor on the page, but it does mean that you use your imagination and make ordinary items more interesting. |
 | Word collages can sum up what you want to say or make you look at something completely differently. You want to arrange the words so that they emphasize, complement or contradict one another. |
Want to learn how to make a collage on the computer? Easy: Just use one of many available image programs. The programs are simple enough that even the most non-savvy computer user can create a collage in just a few hours. |
The most common and creative collage ideas have been in use for centuries. But today's artist has a few new ideas up her sleeve. |
When you make a collage, you create a statement. The artist has full control over what materials are used and how they are used in order to create emotional responses. |
